Are Harvest and Lilly's spaces still vacant?

[Robin Garr]

Hey, restaurant nerds: Can any of you tell me if anything new has moved into the spaces vacated by Harvest or Lilly's? Yeah, I ought to know. But so many tasks, so little time.

Yes, both are still vacant.

I thought I read somewhere that something was going into the Harvest location but I forget what or where I read it.

[Robin Garr]

Someone on social media said they thought they remembered a report about Fernando putting a Mediterranean place there. But I can't find a trace of that either. Strange. Harvest in particular has been vacant for a long time.

I know that Lou Lou is opening another restaurant in the former Decca space and you're right I think I do remember something about Fernando opening a restaurant where Harvest was when I couldn't find it either.

[Robin Garr]

I know that Lou Lou is opening another restaurant in the former Decca space and you're right I think I do remember something about Fernando opening a restaurant where Harvest was when I couldn't find it either.

Correct about Lou Lou, and about Fernando turning Rye into the new Guacamole. But I couldn't find much about Harvest or Rye.

To update this for 2025, Business First mentioned the old Harvest location in a story this week. The building was purchased last year by Zyyo, which is involved in a number of development projects in NuLu. The reporter couldn’t reach Zyyo to learn its current plans, but renderings on the building’s website ( https://www.harvest624.com/ ) show a “House of Marigold” sign on the building. Maybe that’s just a placeholder name, but it seems odd that Zyyo would choose the name of an actual local restaurant.

[Robin Garr]

Good catch, Rich. It wouldn’t surprise me much to see House of Marigold add another property.

House of Marigold applied for a building permit today to open at the old Harvest location.

House of Marigold announced earlier this year that it will open a restaurant in Norton Commons, but it can't do that until Gustavo's Mexican Grill moves into its new building. More on that in this story:

https://www.wlky.com/article/house-of-m ... s/63424731

[Robin Garr]

Thanks! I liked the original House of Marigold but quick expansion to multiple shops feels a little worrisome. I hope they do it well.

Kudos to the way they've approached the cafe in the Speed Museum - tweaking and changing as need be to meet expectations. Operating a cafe or restaurant in a performing arts venue (think Lee and Actors) is a tricky proposition to begin with.

Kudos to the way they've approached the cafe in the Speed Museum - tweaking and changing as need be to meet expectations. Operating a cafe or restaurant in a performing arts venue (think Lee and Actors) is a tricky proposition to begin with.

I have to respectfully disagree here. When they first opened at the Speed, the museum had just opened an Indian art exhibit, and they had a special menu of Indian dishes that were 10/10 (I had actually wanted to get another entree to go, but the restaurant closed before we were ready to leave). When my friend and I went there this past June, the food was not good, and the service was extremely inattentive, yet someone I assume was the owner was out hobnobbing it with some patrons he knew, and they were praising the mediocre food. After that, we weren't hungry, but also weren't satiated, so we stopped at Toasty's Tavern on the way back for a drink and a snack and had no complaints.

Edited to add: Yes, I know it's difficult, but this feels like a repeat of Butchertown's contract there, which also started out really well, but then devolved into mediocrity.

[Robin Garr]

Fair report. Sad, but fair. Thanks!